Marijuana Quality Control Bible Nearing Completion

Entrepreneurs who hope to cash in on legal marijuana will have some heavy reading to do Thursday. That’s when Washington’s Liquor Control Board is expected to release nearly 50 pages of proposed rules for growers, processors and retailers.

But it turns out that there’s another pot rulebook that’s also in development. It’s called the Cannabis Monograph. Think of it as an illustrated bible for pot quality control.

It’s a technical, but colorful handbook for testing labs to ensure the identity, purity and quality of legal pot. Roy Upton is with the non-profit American Herbal Pharmacopoeia in California. He’s heading up the effort to produce this document – which he calls a first.

“The monograph establishes what tests people should follow to ensure that they have the right stuff, that it’s not contaminated it, that it meets very specific limits for microbial presence.”

Upton says pot gets contaminated with all sorts of bacteria. And sometimes spiked with everything from tobacco to Viagra. The full monograph will sell for $40 and Upton hopes it sets the standard for a safe recreational pot supply in Washington.

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